Fencing is a highly competitive and strenuous sport for two contestants (“fencers”). Fencing takes place on a conductive narrow elongated surface, known as a piste, or fencing strip. A fencing competition involves two contestants (fencers) wearing appropriate protective clothing and face masks. In competition, the fencers are judged by a referee who monitors the fencer's activities as each competitor attempts to score touches on key areas of the other one's body with his or her blade. The goal is to touch the tip or edge of the weapon onto the valid surfaces of the competitor. Valid surfaces vary between the different branches of fencing, which are called foil, epee and sabre. Epee and foil blades have electrical contacts on their tips that respond to a touch. The surface of the fencing strip is electrically conductive. Saber blades employ a conductive blade surface. A body cord connects the weapon to the fencer's protective clothing. The floor is conductive so that the electronic signaling unit can receive signals from the weapons and protective clothing and differentiate between a touch landing on the foot of a fencer and a touch landing near the foot but on the floor, which is not a valid touch. The lights on electronic signaling units are green and red (showing touches by one or the other fencer), while touches made on invalid surfaces are shown by white lights for each fencer separately.
When constructed from aluminum (or another metallic) sheet, the fencing strip includes an exposed top surface that is electrically conductive. It is often constructed from aluminum sheet that may or may not include perforations or other structures thereon. The fencing strip is constructed in segments that are joined at joint lines for easy assembly, disassembly, storage and subsequent re-assembly. Appropriate mechanical fasteners and connectors can be used to join the segments together. A fully constructed fencing strip can extend up to at least 17 meters.
Touch signals from each fencer are transmitted through the wires via a connecting cable system to a central scoring console. The scoring console can include a time clock and a pair of score displays/pylons. The entire surface of the strip is conductive and provides a ground plane connected to the competitors When a blade conductively contacts the strip surface during competition, the control system in the console recognizes the touch as one with the strip and registers no score. The conductive surface in combination with an interconnection to the scoring console enables such differentiation.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that enables a ready display of the score and touches by fencers, regardless of where the fencers are positioned along the fencing strip. It is also desirable to provide displays of advertising and sponsorship to defray costs of events and fencing organizations.